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Thunder Tame the Stampede

December 29, 2015 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Bloomington Thunder News Release


Bloomington Thunder vs. the Sioux Falls Stampede
Bloomington Thunder vs. the Sioux Falls Stampede
(Bloomington Thunder)

SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota - Seven games in a row, the result has been the same for the Bloomington Thunder who shutout the Sioux Falls Stampede 3-0 on Tuesday night. The Thunder (15-8-2-1) beat the reigning Clark Cup Champion Stampede (16-11-0-1) in front of 7, 200 strong at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center. The Stampede drop their four game win streak and are halted at second place in the Western Conference, while the Thunder are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference behind the top three teams in the USHL.

Logan Halladay was tested with 20 shots on net in the game including two breakaways in the second period. The second year goaltender from Cary, NC pitched his first career shutout and extended his personal win streak to three straight games. He was named the number one star of the game after outdueling Stefanos Lekkas (University of Vermont).

Vlad Dzhioshvili (Cornell University) opened the scoring in the first period to give the Thunder a 1-0 lead. The Moscow, RUS native, netted his second goal in as many games hustling to a loose puck off a dump in by Blake Gober. The puck bounced off the wall and came to the rookie forward for the one timer. It was his third of the season and came at 8:04 of the opening period.

The Thunder would open the second period with a shortened 5-on-3 power play, but could not extend the lead. They would surrender two chances to the Stampede on the man advantage however; their fourth ranked penalty kill stopped the herd in their tracks through three chances. Overall, both team's were unsuccessful on the power play, both going 0-for-5 in the game.

Lawton Courtnall (Western Michigan University) and Parker Tuomie (Minnesota State University-Mankato) each were denied by Halladay in the period who was unfazed to the Stampede through two periods.

To open the third period, Halladay again came up huge on a back door chance, stacking the pads and stopping the play. On the next face off, the Thunder went down the ice and made it 2-0. Alec Mehr was on the backdoor for a pass from Steven Merl (University of Michigan) and netted his second goal of the season at 3:35. Later, the Thunder would hold off the empty net charge by the Stampede and a power play chance. Capping the night was Jake Durflinger with his eighth goal of the year to ice the game for the Thunder.

For the second straight game, the Thunder beat their opponent by more than one goal. This is the third shutout of the season for the Thunder who are the third best team at keeping the puck out of the net.

Bloomington heads to Cedar Rapids, IA to wrap up the 2015 calendar year with a 7:05 p.m. game. The RoughRiders (16-7-2-0) and Thunder will face off with the top team in the Eastern Conference for the final time this season.

NEXT HOME GAME: Saturday, January 2nd - 7 p.m. - With the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, where better to celebrate than with the Thunder for their second annual Star Wars night. There will be buy one get one free hot dogs from 6-7 p.m. and kids 12 and under get a free hot dog at the game. There are plenty of activities including the "Blast-A-Trooper" game on the concourse. Following the game there will be a post game skate with the team.

Holiday Hat Trick: Call the Thunder for their holiday hat trick package. For just $55 you get four tickets to an upcoming game, a Thunder team hat, and a Thunder mini stick! That's a value of over $90. Visit the Thunder office or call (309) 434-2980 for this amazing limited time offer.




Images from this story

Bloomington Thunder vs. the Sioux Falls Stampede
Bloomington Thunder vs. the Sioux Falls Stampede
   



United States Hockey League Stories from December 29, 2015


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